BridgeBio Pharma Expands Reach Into China and Other Major Asian Markets Through Strategic Collaboration With Perceptive Advisors-Founded Company, LianBio
BridgeBio Pharma (NASDAQ: BBIO) announces a strategic partnership with LianBio to expand its presence in China, a significant pharmaceutical market. The collaboration involves initial $26.5 million in payments and potential future milestones of up to $505 million. It focuses on the development of FGFR inhibitor infigratinib and SHP2 inhibitor BBP-398 for cancers with genetic mutations. BridgeBio aims to address patient needs in Asia by leveraging LianBio's local access and expertise. CEO Neil Kumar joins LianBio's board, reinforcing their partnership.
- Strategic partnership with LianBio expands BridgeBio's market reach into China.
- Initial and potential milestone payments could total up to $531.5 million.
- Focus on targeted oncology drug candidates aligns with industry demand.
- Increased equity interest in LianBio enhances long-term investment potential.
- Dependence on clinical trial success in a highly competitive market.
- Risks associated with regulatory approvals in foreign markets.
BridgeBio CEO and founder Neil Kumar, Ph.D., has been appointed to LianBio’s board of directors.
PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBIO), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on genetic diseases and cancers with clear genetic drivers, today announced that it is partnering with Shanghai-based LianBio, a new company founded by Perceptive Advisors, to expand its global reach into China, the second-largest pharmaceutical market in the world. The partnership marks the first major expansion of BridgeBio’s pipeline into Asian markets.
This strategic relationship will initially focus on two of BridgeBio’s targeted oncology drug candidates, FGFR inhibitor infigratinib, currently in Phase 3 development for FGFR-driven tumors and Phase 1-ready SHP2 inhibitor BBP-398, for tumors driven by RAS and receptor tyrosine kinase mutations. The agreement also provides LianBio with preferential future access in the territory to more than 20 drug development candidates currently owned or controlled by BridgeBio. This collaboration is designed to advance and accelerate BridgeBio’s programs in China and other major Asian markets, allowing BridgeBio to quickly bring innovation to large numbers of patients with high unmet need.
“Tremendous patient need and a fast-developing healthcare infrastructure make China a strategic priority. We are eager to not only expand late-stage therapies to the broader patient population there, but also to accelerate our clinical development efforts in Asia and better understand and address the needs of patients there – early. We are grateful to be deepening our relationship with Perceptive Advisors through this agreement with LianBio and look forward to a lasting partnership focused on expanding our reach to patients,” said BridgeBio CEO and founder Neil Kumar, Ph.D.
“We value our relationship with BridgeBio and are happy to be enabling the entry of important programs to LianBio’s territories,” said Adam Stone, CIO of Perceptive Advisors. “BridgeBio and its affiliate companies exemplify the commitment to science-driven, precision medicine that we believe is a key driver to innovation in healthcare. We are excited about this opportunity to leverage their promising pipeline and LianBio’s local expertise to accelerate both global development and local access to leading edge therapeutics.”
Under the terms of the agreements, LianBio will receive commercial rights in China and selected Asian markets and participate in clinical development activities for infigratinib (housed in BridgeBio affiliate QED) and BBP-398 (housed in BridgeBio affiliate Navire). BridgeBio’s near-term economics includes a total of
LianBio is participating in the ongoing Phase 3 study of infigratinib in first line cholangiocarcinoma (PROOF) in mainland China and further plans to initiate a Phase 2a study of infigratinib in gastric cancer and other FGFR-driven tumors. Additionally, LianBio will contribute to clinical development of BBP-398 in combination with various agents in solid tumors such as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal and pancreatic cancer, in mainland China and other major Asian markets.
About BridgeBio Pharma
BridgeBio is a team of experienced drug discoverers, developers and innovators working to create life-altering medicines that target well-characterized genetic diseases at their source. BridgeBio was founded in 2015 to identify and advance transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from Mendelian diseases, which are diseases that arise from defects in a single gene, and cancers with clear genetic drivers. BridgeBio’s pipeline of over 20 development programs includes product candidates ranging from early discovery to late-stage development. For more information, please visit www.bridgebio.com.
About LianBio
LianBio’s mission is to catalyze the development and accelerate availability of paradigm-shifting medicines to patients in China and major Asian markets through partnerships that provide access to the best science-driven therapeutic discoveries. LianBio collaborates with world-class partners across a diverse array of therapeutic and geographic areas to build out a pipeline based on disease relevance and the ability to impact patients with transformative mechanisms and precision-based therapeutics. For more information, please visit www.lianbio.com.
About Perceptive Advisors
Founded in 1999, Perceptive Advisors is a leading life sciences focused investment firm with over
About QED Therapeutics
QED Therapeutics, an affiliate of BridgeBio Pharma, is a biotechnology company focused on precision medicine for FGFR-driven diseases. Its lead investigational candidate is infigratinib (BGJ398), an orally administered, FGFR1-3 selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has shown activity that it believes to be meaningful in clinical measures, such as overall response rate, in patients with chemotherapy-refractory cholangiocarcinoma with FGFR2 fusions and advanced urothelial carcinoma with FGFR3 genomic alterations. QED intends to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) with the United States Food and Drug Administration for second and later-line cholangiocarcinoma in 2020. QED Therapeutics is also evaluating infigratinib in clinical studies for the treatment of achondroplasia. QED plans to conduct further clinical trials to evaluate the potential for infigratinib to treat patients with other FGFR-driven tumor types and rare disorders. For more information, please visit www.qedtx.com.
About Navire Pharma
Navire Pharma, an affiliate of BridgeBio Pharma, and in collaboration with the Institute for Applied Cancer Science at MD Anderson, is developing inhibitors of SHP2 as targeted therapeutics for the treatment of multiple cancers. Together with patients and physicians, the company aims to bring safe, effective treatments to market as quickly as possible. For more information, please visit www.navirepharma.com.
BridgeBio Pharma Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Statements we make in this press release may include statements that are not historical facts and are considered forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which are usually identified by the use of words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “seeks,” “should,” “will,” and variations of such words or similar expressions. We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act and are making this statement for purposes of complying with those safe harbor provisions. These forward-looking statements, including statements relating to BridgeBio’s anticipated receipt of future milestone and/or royalty payments from LianBio, reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to, the success of clinical trials, regulatory filings, approvals and/or sales of infigratinib and BBP-398 in China and other major Asian markets, as well as those risks set forth in the Risk Factors section of BridgeBio Pharma’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and BridgeBio Pharma’s other SEC filings. Moreover, BridgeBio Pharma operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment in which new risks emerge from time to time. Except as required by applicable law, we assume no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact:
Grace Rauh
BridgeBio Pharma, Inc.
Grace.rauh@bridgebio.com
(917) 232-5478
Source: BridgeBio Pharma, Inc.
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